The Mets Keep Pounding the Ball to Stay Warm

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The Mets’ John Buck (44) was welcomed by his teammates after a grand slam in the second inning.CreditCreditJim Mone/Associated Press

By Pat Borzi

April 13, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS — Someone with a sardonic sense of humor at Target Field chose the break between the fourth and fifth innings to play the Andy Williams Christmas classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.”

Easy for someone sitting inside to say.

After a monumental effort by the Target Field grounds and maintenance crews to clear five inches of snow from the field and the stands, the Mets and the Minnesota Twins played Friday night in snow showers and 34-degree cold. The conditions were better suited for the Vikings and the Giants of the N.F.L., but third baseman David Wright insisted it was no big deal.

“It’s not that bad,” he said before heading out for batting practice. “It’s not like any of us have never played in cold weather before. We play in New York. It’s nothing we haven’t experienced before.”

The Mets certainly hit as if they were used to it, scoring five runs in each of the first two innings to win easily, 16-5. Wright had three of his four runs batted in in his first two at-bats, helping knock out Twins starter Vance Worley in the second inning. Wright missed hitting for the cycle by a home run.

Catcher John Buck homered in a fourth consecutive game, a second-inning grand slam off reliever Pedro Hernandez that landed in the second deck in left. Buck’s homer gave the Mets at least one in all 10 games this season, a franchise first. Daniel Murphy added four hits, tying a career high, and four R.B.I.

The conditions reminded Mets starter Jon Niese of his time pitching in high school in northern Ohio.

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David Wright enjoyed a snow shower. “It’s not like any of us have never played in cold weather before,” he said.CreditHannah Foslien/Getty Images

“A few of them got pretty cold like this,” he said, “but I don’t ever remember pitching in snow.”

Niese lasted only five innings after scrapping his best pitch, a cut fastball, because it kept slipping out of his hand. He had gone at least six innings in 22 previous starts.The snow showers had abated by the time Niese came out, after throwing 101 pitches. He gave up five runs, four earned, on five hits but still won because the Mets scored so much early.

That the game would proceed at all seemed unlikely on Thursday afternoon, when snow still blanketed the field and the stands. Twins officials were determined to play Friday to avoid a day-night doubleheader on Saturday; that would have meant moving up the scheduled start of 3:10 p.m. Central time by at least two hours

The game-time temperature was a degree colder than it was for Minnesota’s opening day, on April 1. Friday’s crowd, announced as 23,735, appeared half that size. In the top of the second inning, only 32 people sat in the upper deck in left and about 100 sat in right, not counting ushers.

“Tonight is a night you’re happy you’re a catcher because you’ve got the helmet and the extra gear on,” Buck said. “But it was still cold. As the game went on, you could feel the temperature decreasing. It seemed like every time I went out on the field it was a little bit colder, more brisk.”

Worley, a former Philadelphia Phillie, pitched in short sleeves, just as he did on opening day. The tough-guy display did not fluster the Mets. Worley threw 57 pitches but recorded only three outs, giving up seven hits and nine runs (seven earned).

Said Mets Manager Terry Collins: “It was a tough night for everybody to pitch. Fortunately we got a big lead.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page D5 of the New York edition with the headline: The Mets Keep Pounding the Ball to Stay Warm. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe